34 weeks, 2 days

New Year's Eve 2013

Looking around here tonight, you wouldn't even be able to tell that it's New Year's Eve. We're keeping it casual and low-key. J is watching The Hobbit and I'm browsing the internet. I'm glad we both think that staying out past midnight sounds really unappealing right now.

Instead, I'd like to recap the wonderful year we've had. 2013 has been so, so good to us! Here are some highlights via iPhone photos.

One year ago today, we went out to a fancy dinner with friends and counted down to 2013 at the Palace Hotel for some crappy, but expensive, NYE party:

In February, we got married!

In March, we went on a wine tasting tour, got really drunk, and broke things at the Ferry Building:

In April, and pretty much all before I got pregnant, we ate tons of delicious oysters and seafood. I would stay home from work and Tiff and I would go to Swan Oyster Depot for white wine, bloody beers, and oysters:

In May, J and I had a nice evening in. We ordered Thai take-out, opened up a bottle of white wine, and watched Place Beyond the Pines...

a month later, we found out that we also made a baby that night!

All throughout the summer, we went to a total of four weddings. This is us at the first one. I remember feeling very nauseous here: 

In July, J and I canceled our honeymoon and had many mini moons instead. We took road trips and saw old buildings and roadside attractions, one of my favorite pastimes:

In August, I visited family in Southern California, and took a small vacation in Palm Springs with my favorite girlfriends:

In September, we found that that we're having a baby boy!

In October, we bought our dream house! Here is J right before we got the call about them accepting our offer:

In November, we moved into our dream house and took many trips to Home Depot, Ikea, and many other furniture stores. In just a few weeks, we made our house into a home:

And right now, on the last night of December, after looking through old photos and writing this post, we are sitting next to each other on our laptops and laughing at funny gifs on Reddit. The one that had us laughing hysterically was this guitar one.

Goodbye 2013! Thanks for being so good to us, and making us feel like the luckiest people alive!

Cheers (or dry cheers) to the new year!

34 weeks, 1 day

Recent news

1. I'm finally on winter break, which means I've pretty much started my maternity leave, which means I'm not going to be working for a verrryyyyy long time! Yay! I think I got lucky with the timing cause my leave begins in January, and goes until mid-June. Then we have summer break, and I don't have to be back at work until August...if I decide to return to work.

2. My sister and niece were visiting for the weekend! It's always so much fun having them around.

3. Like I mentioned in the previous post, my brother and sister-in-law had their baby earlier this month. Welcome to the world, Baby Lily!

4. My hands and feet are getting really swollen and I did not take my wedding rings off in time. I really didn't want to get them cut off so we tried every trick in the book... Soap and water did not help, Windex just made my fingers sticky, and "the dental floss trick" left my finger even more swollen and very irritated. Finally, I rubbed Preparation H on my ring finger and left it on for 30 minutes. It still looked really swollen, but I thought I'd try twisting it off anyway... Lo and behold! It worked! It kind of hurt, but miraculously, it twisted off! I was very proud of myself.

5. I should've followed my gut instinct and not tell the in-laws our baby's name until after he was born. However, we thought it'd be nice to just let them know. Turns out, they hate it and want us to change it. Their arguments are 1. "He'll get made fun of" and 2. "The meaning is too negative". My arguments are 1. I am a school teacher and kids just don't make fun of names anymore if they have the right upbringing and teaching, plus there is a whole new generation of crazy names out there that nobody even knows what to make fun of anymore. 2. Do you really think we'd pick a name without considering the meaning? We have done thorough research and know exactly what the name means, and guess what? We are ok with it. Plus, their idea of what the name means is not even true. I have no idea where they're getting their information from. This is a major source of stress for me, and I'm having trouble sleeping because of it. I hate having so much negativity while pregnant. Why can't they just be respectful? We've already named our baby and it's not their choice! So rude.

34 weeks

Christmas 2013

On Christmas Eve, we hosted a very last minute dinner for J's family. Our sister-in-law's family from Denmark joined us, as well as the newest addition to the family, 11-day-old Lily! She was born on December 13th, and she is just the most precious thing ever. We are all so in love with her already!

As for table decor, I pretty much just reused the things we made for the baby shower. 

I also made this flourless cholocate cake in a cast iron pan. It turned out pretty well! Chewy on top, but moist and cakey on the inside.

And of course, dinner was served in green spring blossom Pyrex.

As for Christmas Day, we pretty much just hung around the house and tried to get house-things done. Nothing was open, of course, so J was getting antsy and kept saying, "Christmas is boring!" haha.

So we took a walk and found a historic site very close to our new house. It is the site of the last known duel in American history: the Broderick Terry Duel. It was ok.

And here I am, looking pregnant and tired.

31 weeks, 6 days

Our second baby shower!

We had our Christmas co-ed baby shower today!

We were really nervous at first because we weren't sure if 45 people would fit in our little house, but it turned out ok. We had lots of fun and I was super happy to see friends. J might have had too much fun (aka drinks), but I'm glad he did since he never gets to party like a 21 year old anymore, and probably won't get to for a long time. By 6pm, he was passed out and snoring on the couch. Good for him!

Having this second shower just reminded me of how much closer we are to greeting the baby that's been hanging out in my belly. In a little less than two months, we're gonna see if he has hair on his head and hear what he sounds like. It has all been so surreal but now it's hitting me: a small baby is going to come out of me at a hospital, we are going to take him home, and he is going to be around us forever. That's so crazy! 

30 weeks, 6 days

My first baby shower!

My awesome and super thoughtful coworkers threw me a baby shower today! A very kind parent offered for us to have it at her amazing restaurant, and provided all kinds of delicious food. 

The theme was "Around the World" or "Welcome to the World" or "Boy Meets World" or anything you could say about maps at a baby shower. 

I made the favors from brown paper bags and filled them with snacks and candies from around the world…although I only had time to stop by a Chinese grocery store, so it was pretty much just snacks and candies from around Asia.

Prizes for the winners of the games:

All the different games and activities:

And all the yummy food: